"in modern Mali, but ""Quorra (Kworra)"" to the lower reaches in modern Nigeria, as these were not recognized at the time as being the same river. When European colonial powers began to send ships along the west coast of Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Senegal River was often postulated to be the seaward end of the Niger. The Niger Delta, pouring into the Atlantic through mangrove swamps and thousands of distributaries along more than , was thought to be no more than coastal wetlands. It was only with the 18th-century visits of Mungo Park, who travelled down"
"Richard Lander Richard Lemon Lander (8 February 1804 – 6 February 1834) was an English explorer of western Africa. He and his brother were the first Europeans to follow the course of the River Niger, and discover that it led to the Atlantic. Lander was the son of a Truro innkeeper, born in the Fighting Cocks Inn (later the Dolphin Inn), and given some education in Coombe Lane. At the age of thirteen (1817) he accompanied a merchant to the West Indies, where he suffered an attack of malaria in San Domingo which built his resistance to the disease for"
"younger brother John; and Scottish explorer Hugh Clapperton who also sought the course of the Niger River in its upper reaches. The historians Thomas Basset and Phillip Porter have identified forty maps showing the mountains published between 1798 and 1892. Despite the failure of other later explorers to locate the range, it continued to appear on maps until late in the nineteenth century. Cartographers stopped including the mountains on maps after French explorer Louis Gustave Binger established that the mountains were fictitious in his 1887–89 expedition to chart the Niger River from its mouth in the Gulf of Guinea and"
"Niger expedition of 1841 The Niger expedition of 1841 was mounted by British missionary and activist groups in 1841-1842, using three British iron steam vessels to travel to Lokoja, at the confluence of the Niger River and Benue River, in what is now Nigeria. The British government backed the effort to make treaties with the native peoples, introduce Christianity and promote increased trade. The crews of the boats suffered a high mortality from disease. The expedition was put into motion by an Exeter Hall meeting of 1 June 1840. It was chaired by Prince Albert. The organisers were the Society"
"top of Lemon Street and Richard Lander School is named in his honour. The building of the column commenced in 1835. In 1832 he became the first winner of the Royal Geographical Society Founder's Medal, """"for important services in determining the course and termination of the Niger"""". To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Richard Lander and celebrate the Lander brothers’ remarkable achievements an 'Expedition of Goodwill' was sent in November 2004 to retrace their historic river journey. Richard Lander Richard Lemon Lander (8 February 1804 – 6 February 1834) was an English explorer of western Africa. He"
"were the only surviving officers besides Captain (then Lieutenant) William Allen, who accompanied the expedition on the orders of the Admiralty to survey the river. In 1837, Laird and Oldfield published the ""Narrative of an Expedition into the Interior of Africa by the River Niger in 1832, 1833, 1834"". The expedition had been unsuccessful commercially, but Laird had gained experience invaluable to his successors. He never returned to Africa but instead devoted himself largely to the development of trade with West Africa and especially to the opening up of the countries then forming the British protectorates of Nigeria. One of"
"English cartographer James Rennell who showed the Niger evaporating inland at Wangara. The German map maker Johann Reinecke included the mountains in his map of 1804 as the ""Geburg Kong"". In 1805 the London engraver John Cary showed them for the first time linking to the Moon Mountains. Various nineteenth century explorers of West Africa included the range on maps they produced or directed the production of after exploring the area. These include French explorer René Caillié, who explored the highlands of Guinea at Fouta Djallon, near the source of the Niger; the Cornish explorer Richard Lemon Lander and his"
"HMS Niger (1759) HMS ""Niger"" was a 32-gun ""Niger""-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1759. In 1766, under the command of Sir Thomas Adams, ""Niger"" travelled to Newfoundland and Labrador. Also on board were Constantine Phipps, and the English botanist Joseph Banks. The purpose of the journey was to transport a party of mariners to Chateau Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador to build a fort, to continue strengthening relations with the native population, and to survey some of the coast of Newfoundland. Banks collected many species of plants and animals during that journey, including many"
"Macgregor Laird Macgregor Laird (1808 – 9 January 1861) was a Scottish merchant pioneer of British trade on the River Niger. Laird was born at Greenock, the younger son of William Laird, founder of the Birkenhead firm of shipbuilders of that name. In 1831, Laird and certain Liverpool merchants formed a company for the commercial development of the Niger regions, the lower course of the Niger having been made known that year by Richard Lemon Lander and John Lander. In 1832, the company sent two small ships to the Niger, the ""Alburkah"", a paddle-wheel steamer of fifty-five tons designed by"
"young Scottish adventurer named Mungo Park, who made two trips in search of the Niger River and Timbuktu (departing first in 1795 and then in 1805). It is believed that Park was the first Westerner to have reached the city, but he died in modern-day Nigeria without having the chance to report his findings. In 1824, the Paris-based Société de Géographie offered a 10,000 franc prize to the first non-Muslim to reach the town and return with information about it. The Scotsman Gordon Laing arrived in August 1826 but was killed the following month by local Muslims who were fearful"
"ship up the Niger River, bringing gifts from the British government, in Queen Victoria's name, to tribal kings and elders along the river. During the voyage, George mediated a dispute between British colonists and Obi Akazua, who reigned amongst the people at Onitsha, Nigeria. He observed first-hand the slave trade, which flourished locally despite the cessation of the trade throughout most of the western world. He recorded his interactions in a handwritten diary, including coloured illustrations of aspects of contemporary West African life along the river, such as this drawing of a brass canoe fitted with an awning and armed"
"On 21 June 1795, he reached the Gambia River and ascended it to a British trading station named Pisania. On 2 December, accompanied by two local guides, he started for the unknown interior. He chose the route crossing the upper Senegal basin and through the semi-desert region of Kaarta. The journey was full of difficulties, and at Ludamar he was imprisoned by a Moorish chief for four months. On 1 July 1796, he escaped, alone and with nothing but his horse and a pocket compass, and on the 21st reached the long-sought Niger River at Ségou, being the first European"
"mouth that emptied into the Gulf, whence Henry Nicholls was to set out in search of the Niger, was precisely the end of the Niger itself—only the Europeans did not know it yet. The starting point of the expedition was in fact its destination. On October 24, 1946 three Frenchmen, Jean Sauvy, Pierre Ponty and movie maker Jean Rouch, former civil servants in the African French colonies, set out to travel the entire length of the river, as no one else seemed to have done previously. They travelled from the very beginning of the river near Kissidougou in Guinea, walking"
"Niger, he was forced to turn back when his equipment was lost to Muslim Arab slave traders. In 1805 he set out on a second expedition, sponsored by the British Government, to follow the Niger to the sea. His mission failed, but Park and his party covered more than , passing through the western portions of the Sokoto Caliphate, before drowning when their boats overturned in rapids near Bussa. On a subsequent expedition to the Sokoto Caliphate, Scottish explorer Hugh Clapperton learned about the mouth of the Niger River, and where it reached the sea, but after suffering malaria, depression"
"died of an illness contracted in Africa. In 1830 the brothers went on an expedition to determine the course of the Niger River. They landed at Badagry in present-day Nigeria, took Clapperton's route to Bussa, then ascended the river for 160 kilometres before descending to explore the Benue River and the Niger Delta. They returned to Britain in 1831. Richard returned to the Niger in 1832, but John was employed in the custom house in Liverpool and later in London through the patronage of Lord Goderich, the president of the Royal Geographical Society. John Lander (explorer) John Lander FRGS (29"
"that distinguished man of science would have been performed long ago. But our societies are instituted to pay their officers and secretaries, and not to promote the objects for which they are ostensibly supported by the public. The Moorish cemetery close by is a most melancholy, nay, frightfully grotesque picture.' Joseph Ritchie Doctor Joseph Ritchie (c. 1788 – 20 November 1819) was an English surgeon, explorer and naturalist. In 1818 Ritchie was sent with George Francis Lyon by Sir John Barrow to find the course of the River Niger and the location of Timbuktu. The expedition was underfunded, lacked support"
"is the Benue River. The Niger has different names in the different languages of the region: The earliest use of the name ""Niger"" for the river is by Leo Africanus in his ""Della descrittione dell’Africa et delle cose notabili che iui sono"" published in Italian in 1550. The name may come from Berber phrase ""ger-n-ger"" meaning ""river of rivers"". As Timbuktu was the southern end of the principal Trans-Saharan trade route to the western Mediterranean, it was the source of most European knowledge of the region. Medieval European maps applied the name ""Niger"" to the middle reaches of the river,"
"nearby coastal areas. While strong evidence of Gunditjmara activity has been found along the river's eastern hinterland and shell middens discovered may indicate multiple nomadic tribes camping along the river that may have used message sticks to communicate. It is not known how long indigenous Australians had been associated with the river, however it is estimated to have been many thousands of years. Major Thomas Mitchell was the first European to discover and cross the river in August 1836, noting its width and its suitability for boating, naming it for Colonial Secretary Baron Glenelg, Charles Grant. A cenotaph at Nelson"
"Joseph Ritchie Doctor Joseph Ritchie (c. 1788 – 20 November 1819) was an English surgeon, explorer and naturalist. In 1818 Ritchie was sent with George Francis Lyon by Sir John Barrow to find the course of the River Niger and the location of Timbuktu. The expedition was underfunded, lacked support and because of the ideas of Barrow departed from Tripoli and thus had to cross the Sahara as part of their journey. A year later, due to much officialdom they had only got as far as Murzuk, the capital of Fezzan, where they both fell ill. Ritchie never recovered and"
"Paul Niger Paul Niger (1915-1962), was a poet and political activist from Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe. He was born Albert Béville, but Niger's passion for Africa led him to take the pen name of the great African Niger River. His major theme was Africa and the pride that he felt in being a descendant of Africans. According to the Encyclopedia of Caribbean Literature, Niger completed secondary studies at the Lycée Carnot in the town of Pointe-à-Pitre. Later on, during World War II, he travelled to Paris to attend the École de la France d’Outre-mer, a school established to train colonial officers. Niger"
"traders continued to frequent the river, which Laird had opened up with little or no personal advantage. Laird's interests were not, however, wholly African. In 1837 he was one of the promoters of a company formed to run steamships between England and New York, and in 1838 the ""Sirius"", sent out by this company, was the first ship to cross the Atlantic from Europe entirely under steam. Laird died in London in 1861. Macgregor Laird Macgregor Laird (1808 – 9 January 1861) was a Scottish merchant pioneer of British trade on the River Niger. Laird was born at Greenock, the"
"it had been well-known and well-traveled by Muslims for hundreds of years. The Niger had long been the major highway of commerce between the kingdoms of Africa’s interior and traders from as far away as Iraq, and offered significant trade opportunities for Europe. According to Peter Brent’s ""Black Nile"", The first explorer recruited for travel to Africa was an American named John Ledyard. He had traveled around the world with Captain Cook and been acquainted with Thomas Jefferson before attempting a voyage across Russia, Siberia, and North America. Having failed to complete his journey, he called on Sir Joseph and"
"of the friendly Bambara people, who helped guide him to the Niger. The doctor was the first European to lay eyes on the Niger and the first to record that it did in fact flow inland to the east. He vowed to follow the river until it led him to Timbuktu, but the intense heat and besetting of thieves stopped him, and he had to return to England. Upon his return he was an instant national hero, and membership in the African Association swelled dramatically. Mungo Park’s travels and discoveries had the greatest impact upon Western knowledge of the African"
"Laird, the first iron vessel to make an ocean voyage. Laird went with the expedition, which was led by Richard Lander and forty-eight Europeans, all but nine of whom died from fever or, in the case of Lander, from wounds. Laird went up the Niger to the confluence of the Benue River (then called the Shary or Tchadda), which he was the first white man to ascend. He did not go far up the river but formed an accurate idea as to its source and course. The expedition returned to Liverpool in 1834. Laird and Surgeon R. A. K. Oldfield"
"from Maroua. The earliest Europeans to reach the territory were British explorers Hugh Clapperton, Dixon Denham, and Dr. Walter Oudney, who were exploring the Niger River. They crossed the Sahara Desert overland and reached Lake Chad in 1822. Denham then explored the lake while Clapperton and Oudney followed the Chari River. Denham accompanied the Bornu and Mandara army in its attack on Fulani in Mosfei, north of Maroua in April 1823. He was captured, but managed to escape as his Fulani captors argued over his clothing. Oudney died in 1823. Clapperton and Denham regrouped near the Mandara Mountains and returned"
"stations on the Niger. At this time French traders, encouraged by Léon Gambetta, established themselves on the lower river, thus rendering it difficult for the company to obtain territorial rights; but the Frenchmen were bought out in 1884, so that at the Berlin Conference on West Africa in 1885, Goldie, present as an expert on matters relating to the river, was able to announce that on the lower Niger the British flag alone flew. Meantime the Niger coast line had been placed under British protection. Through Joseph Thomson, David McIntosh, D. W. Sargent, J. Flint, William Wallace, E. Dangerfield and"
"the Niger River and visited the great Sahelian empires of his day, that Europeans correctly identified the course of the Niger and extended the name to its entire course. The modern nations of Nigeria and Niger take their names from the river, marking contesting national claims by colonial powers of the ""Upper"", ""Lower"" and ""Middle"" Niger river basin during the Scramble for Africa at the end of the 19th century. The Niger River is a relatively ""clear"" river, carrying only a tenth as much sediment as the Nile because the Niger's headwaters lie in ancient rocks that provide little silt."
"Samuel Baker Sir Samuel White Baker, KCB, FRS, FRGS (8 June 1821 – 30 December 1893) was an English explorer, officer, naturalist, big game hunter, engineer, writer and abolitionist. He also held the titles of Pasha and Major-General in the Ottoman Empire and Egypt. He served as the Governor-General of the Equatorial Nile Basin (today's South Sudan and Northern Uganda) between April 1869 and August 1873, which he established as the Province of Equatoria. He is mostly remembered as the discoverer of Lake Albert, as an explorer of the Nile and interior of central Africa, and for his exploits as"
"Industrial Revolution of 1750–1790. At the same time, British scientists were interested in exploring the course and related settlements along the Niger River. The delta masked the mouth of the great river, and for centuries Nigerians chose not to tell Europeans the secrets of the interior. In 1794 the African Association in Great Britain commissioned Mungo Park, an intrepid Scottish physician and naturalist, to search for the headwaters of the Niger and follow the river downstream. Park reached the upper Niger the next year by travelling inland from the Gambia River. Although he reported on the eastward flow of the"
"the river to its delta. Joseph Banks, president of the African Association supported his project, hoping that the expedition would reveal the location of Timbuktu. Henry, 3rd Earl Bathurst, then secretary for the colonies, instructed Captain Laing to undertake a journey, via Tripoli and Timbuktu, to further elucidate the hydrography of the Niger basin. Laing left England in February 1825, and at Tripoli on 14 July he married Emma Warrington, daughter of the British consul. Two days later, leaving his bride behind, he started to cross the Sahara, accompanied by a sheikh who was subsequently accused of planning his murder."
"been the first European to reach the Niger River and visit the towns of Ségou, Sansanding and Bamako. An account of his first trip had been published in French in 1799. Park made a second expedition beginning in 1805 but was drowned in descending the rapids on the Niger, near Bussa, in present-day Nigeria. An account of the second trip had been published in English in 1815. Caillié returned to Bordeaux in France and then travelled to Senegal where he arrived at end of 1818. He made a journey into the interior to the pre-colonial state of Bundu to carry"
"Levison Wood Major Levison James Wood (born 5 May 1982) is a British Army officer and explorer. He is best known for his extended walking expeditions in Africa, Asia, and Central America; over the course of nine months, from 2013-2014, he undertook the first ever expedition to walk the entire length of the river Nile from Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda, beginning in December 2013. The expedition was commissioned as a four-part documentary series for Channel 4 in the UK. He also wrote ""The Sunday Times"" bestselling book detailing the expedition, ""Walking the Nile"". In 2015, he walked the length of"
"sold in 1814. Notes Citations References HMS Niger (1759) HMS ""Niger"" was a 32-gun ""Niger""-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1759. In 1766, under the command of Sir Thomas Adams, ""Niger"" travelled to Newfoundland and Labrador. Also on board were Constantine Phipps, and the English botanist Joseph Banks. The purpose of the journey was to transport a party of mariners to Chateau Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador to build a fort, to continue strengthening relations with the native population, and to survey some of the coast of Newfoundland. Banks collected many species of plants and"